OREANDA-NEWS. September 25, 2013. Russian Railways will be investing more than 1.3 bn roubles by the end of 2013 in a new railway bridge spanning the River Don. The bridge is on the stretch between Morozov - Volgograd on Volga Railways.

Work on the project began in 2011. At the construction site, 6 of the 10 pillars for the future bridge have already been put in place, 33.6m of spans have been built on the foundations and shore abutments and work is continuing on laying subgrade on the Likhaya - Volgograd line. Of the 2.6 million cubic metres to be used in total, over 1.4 million have already been layed. The raised track for delivering bulk cargo and steel frameworks has also been completed.

By the end of this year, it is planned to build 4 more pillars and complete the assembly work on two spans with a length of 77 m. Reconstruction work on the bridge is continuing at the same time as the construction, in particular, panels on its spans are being replaced. Of the 58 panels, 13 have already been replaced, with 3 more to be changed before the end of the year.

According to the project plans, the new bridge will be 50 metres upstream from the old one and will be 800m long.

The construction of the bridge will allow heavier freight trains to pass at a speed of up to 90 kph, as a result of which travel time on the stretch between Morozov - Volgograd will be significantly reduced for both passenger and freight trains.

The Company's total investment in project in 2013 alone is more than 1.3 bn roubles.

The new bridge is scheduled to be commissioned in 2017.